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Welcome to the k0rdent docs#

Introduction#

k0rdent has been developed to provide a way to manage distributed infrastructure at massive scale leveraging kubernetes.

The project is based on the premise that:

  • Kubernetes and its ecosystem are mature and inherently stable.
  • Large scale adoption of Kubernetes means that k0rdent can run anywhere.
  • Community standards and open source projects ensure support and reduce adoption risk.

The goal of the k0rdent project is to provide platform engineers with the means to deliver a distributed container management environment (DCME) and enable them to compose unique internal developer platforms (IDP) to support a diverse range of complex modern application workloads.

Another way to think of k0rdent is as a "super control plane" designed to ensure the consistent provisioning and lifecycle management of kubernetes clusters and the services that make them useful.

In short: Kubernetes clusters at scale, managed centrally, template driven, based on open community driven standards, enabling Golden Paths ... k0rdent aspires to do all of that.

Whether you want to manage Kubernetes clusters on-premises, in the cloud, or a combination of both, k0rdent provides a consistent way to do it. With full life-cycle management, including provisioning, configuration, and maintenance, k0rdent is designed to be a repeatable and secure way to manage your Kubernetes clusters in a central location.

Structure and History#

The project has a number of components, including:

  • k0rdent: the overall project

    • k0rdent Cluster Manager (KCM)

      Deployment and life-cycle management of Kubernetes clusters, including configuration, updates, and other CRUD operations.

    • k0rdent State Manager (KSM)

      Installation and life-cycle management of beach-head services, policy, Kubernetes API configurations, and more.

      • This is currently rolled into kcm, but may be split out in the future
      • ksm leverages Project Sveltos for an increasing amount of functionality

    • k0rdent Observability and FinOps (KOF)

      Cluster and beach-head services monitoring, events and log management.

There are a few historical names that may show up in the code and in older docs, including:

  • Project 2A: the original codename of k0rdent, 2A references the hexadecimal 0x2A, or 42, which encompasses our hopes for the project.
  • HMC or hmc: the original repository name for k0rdent and KCM development
  • motel: the original repository and codename for KOF

Quick Start#

See the k0rdent Quick Start Guide to get started with a small deployment.

Supported Providers#

k0rdent leverages the Cluster API provider ecosystem; the following providers have had ProviderTemplates created and validated, and more are in the works.

k0rdent also includes a way to add custom providers, so it's possible to integrate it with other hyperscalers, or even into an existing local infrastructure.

Development Documentation#

Documentation related to the development process and developer-specific notes is located in the main k0rdent repository.